Tears of Scarlet Red
by ShadowHunter13
Summary: (One Shot) Kenshin is having nightmares about his old life as Hitokiri Battousai. He wakes up and decides to roam the dojo. During his walk, he finds Kaoru awake as well. When no one is looking, will the confess their love for each other?


This is my first (serious) fan fiction. Yes it is a Kenshin & Kaoru, so R&R! Also, Please tell me if I spelled something wrong. Thanks! B^) Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin, or any of the RK crew (though I wish I did) Rurouni Kenshin is all property of the guy who first had the idea. (And all the other shit that's needed so I don't get my ass sued)  
  
Tears of Scarlet Red  
  
Hitokiri. The word echoed in his head. Hitokiri, Hitokiri. He just stood there, his sword and clothes blood covered. He flicked his katana, to clean the blood from it. He then sheathed the deadly blade. With two fingers of his left hand, he reached up and touched his forehead. He brought his fingers to eye level, and stared at the still warm blood on his hand. He looked around himself and saw corpses. Those of the warriors he had just slain. Their blood stained the ground. The fresh blood just shed by the legendary manslayer, Hitokiri Battousai. He fell to the ground, gasping for air. He began coughing. Coughing up blood, his own. He didn't remember being cut. He hardly remembered killing the men surrounding him. He gasped, desperate for air. His blood was choking him. He knew he had to survive. Coughing, he drew his sword, and plunged it into the ground. He then grabbed the handle and tried to use the blade to help him stand up. His effort was in vain. Once again, he fell to the ground, choking on his own blood.  
  
Himura Kenshin awoke, gasping for breath. He sat up, breathing heavily. He gazed around himself, looking for bodies. He tapped his forehead with two fingers of his left hand. He looked at them, no blood. He checked his belt, looking for his sword. His Sakabato lay beside him, sheathed. With his right hand, he touched the cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, only one of his reminders of his previous life. As Hitokiri Battousai, the legendary killer of the Bakamatsu (The Meiji Revolution). His long red hair covered his naked back as he sat there, awake. Realizing he had only awoken from a dream, he lied back down and stared at the ceiling. As he stared, he thought about the others. He thought about Yahiko, the foolish little boy. Although Yahiko was becoming quite the swordsman, he still had much to learn. The innocence that comes from one who has never shed blood. He then thought of Sanosuke, and his reaction to Kaoru's meal last night. Sano left the table with quite the bruise on his right cheek. Kenshin thought of what it must be like, to have never wielded a true sword, and have always fought with fists. He then thought of Miss Kaoru, and her gentle qualities. She had never known the pain that he and Sanosuke had. She was innocent, and had never known what it felt like to shed the blood of others. Even Sano didn't know Kenshin's pain. No one could relate to Kenshin's tragic past. Maybe that was why he usually stayed away from the others. But still, he felt great comfort in the presence of Miss Kaoru. Kenshin closed his eyes, and tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. Not after the nightmare he had just awoken from. He decided that he would get up and go for a walk around the dojo. He got up and put on his shirt. He left his sword on the ground. He had no reason to take it. As he walked out to the courtyard, he thought of the others once more. Yahiko was definitely still sleeping. "That boy could sleep through anything, that he could." Kenshin thought. He wondered where Sanosuke was. He left after dinner that night, and since Kenshin couldn't hear his snoring, he assumed he hadn't returned yet. He hoped that Sano hadn't gotten himself in trouble again. Lastly, he thought of Kaoru once more. Actually, he hadn't stopped thinking about her. She was always in the back of his mind, no matter what. He got so wrapped up in thinking about her; he didn't notice her sitting on the rock in the middle of the courtyard, staring up at the sky. When he did notice her, he walked over and said to her, "Oh, Miss Kaoru. What keeps you up this late?"  
  
"Oh," she said startled. She turned around and looked at him, "Kenshin. Why are you up this late?" she asked as she moved over to make room for him to sit down.  
  
"Oh, no reason. Just couldn't sleep, that's all," he lied as he sat down, "What's keeping you up?"  
  
"Nothing. It's nothing." She lied back.  
  
"Miss Kaoru, there is something bothering you, that there is. I can tell by the tone of your voice," Kenshin said in response.  
  
"Oh Kenshin, I can't hide anything from you. You're not as dense as the others are. Okay, I'll tell you. Kenshin?" She asked him.  
  
"Yes Miss Kaoru?" He returned the question as he unconsciously rested his hand on hers.  
  
"Have you ever had feelings for someone, and thought that maybe, just maybe, that they felt the same way for you, but you didn't think you could tell them, afraid that they might not feel the same way?" Kaoru inquired as she looked back up at the sky.  
  
"All the time Miss Kaoru, all the time," he said.  
  
"Well, that's why. It keeps me up every night. The same thing, every single night," she sighed as she returned her stare to his eyes. His gaze hadn't moved from her face for the whole conversation. She then noticed Kenshin's hand on her own. She turned her hand and laced fingers with him. He smiled to her, and the looked up at the sky.  
  
"It's beautiful tonight." Kenshin said, "the sky," he added at the end.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah, the sky." Kaoru said as her thoughts trailed off.  
  
Kenshin laughed a little. He then looked back at Kaoru, and said, "I wonder."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What would Yahiko think, or even Sanosuke, if they saw us like this?"  
  
"I'm sure Yahiko would never let us forget it, but you know Sano more than I."  
  
"Yes. Sano would probably bother me about this endlessly, that he would."  
  
"That he would. Oh Kenshin," She said as she turned to him, "Himura Kenshin."  
  
"Yes Miss Kaoru?" he said as he looked back at her.  
  
"Could you please stop calling me Miss? It kind of bothers me. Kaoru will do just fine."  
  
"Okay, I'll do that Mi." he caught himself, "I'll do that, Kaoru."  
  
"Thank you," she said as she leaned towards him. Kenshin, as well, began to lean towards Kaoru. He kissed her passionately, letting go of all the feelings for her he had kept inside, so long. Kenshin quickly regained his composure, and pulled away from Kaoru.  
  
"No, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. I apologize Miss Kaoru," he said as he turned away from her, embarrassed. He stood up and started walking back towards his room. Kaoru quickly grabbed his sleeve and stopped him.  
  
"Kenshin."  
  
"I told you, I'm sorry Miss Kaoru, that I am."  
  
"Yes." she said as she walked up to him and kissed him as passionately as he had kissed her. When she finally pulled away, she said, "and I told you not to call me Miss." She smiled. Kenshin put his arms around her and kissed her once more. As he pulled away, she hugged him tightly.  
  
"Kenshin?" she said to him.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You're the one I've been thinking about. I love you."  
  
"I know. I love you too." He said as he went for one more kiss. All of his feelings for her showed themselves, right there. And all her feelings for him were set free as well. Kenshin finally let her free of his arms.  
  
"Come now. We both better try to get back to sleep. I know Yahiko would never let us forget this if he saw us here now," said Kaoru as they started back to their own rooms. She then ran back to him and gave him one final kiss, then whispered in his ear, "Good night, Kenshin."  
  
"Good night, Kaoru."  
  
Kenshin and Kaoru made their way back to their own rooms. "I'll never forget this night, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin said to himself as he fell back to sleep.  
  
Hitokiri Battousai lie asleep in the woods. The day's journey had exhausted the young boy, and he needed his rest. He lie there, helpless. His sword a good five feet out of arms reach. An assassin moved among the trees, thinking he could sneak up on Battousai during the only time his guard was down, but Battousai presented a problem for the assassin. Even asleep, his guard was up. There was no sneaking up on the legendary manslayer. The assailant moved swiftly and silently among the wooden giants. Moving closer and closer to Battousai. Soon, he was a mere three feet from the great samurai. He drew his sword as he stood over the Hitokiri.  
  
"The tides of this war will swing greatly in favor of the Shogunate with you out of the way. Now. you die, Battousai." The assassin said as he was about to plunge his blade into the heart of Battousai  
  
"I think not," the Hitokiri said, eyes wide open, as he drew his second sword from its sheath on his hip in the blink of an eye. He held the blade in front of his chest, slightly higher than the tip of the assassin's sword. His assailant's blade snapped at the tip, and Battousai rolled out of the way of the falling tip. The legendary manslayer stood up and faced his opponent.  
  
"One move. That's all I need to win this fight," The Hitokiri thought to himself.  
  
"He could kill me in one move. That's all he needs. I'm as good as dead. The legendary manslayer. He's not just better than me, he's on a whole other level," The assassin thought to himself, Battousai could read it through his facial expressions.  
  
"One move. And a whole other level? You have no idea," the manslayer said to his opponent. His enemy staggered back. Battousai sheathed his blade. He then put one hand on the sheath, and with his thumb, flicked the handle to extend the blade only slightly from the sheath. His other hand he placed on the handle, and gripped it tightly.  
  
"Now. it will be you that dies," Battousai said as he used the Hiten Mitsarugi sword drawing technique that he was famous for. He stood two feet from his opponent, his blade, blood-soaked. His enemy stood for only a few seconds more, then he fell to the ground as blood sprayed from the gash in his chest from Battousai's attack. The Hitokiri flicked his katana to clean it of the blood of his fallen opponent.  
  
"He didn't stand a chance. Not against me," Battousai said to himself as he stared at the dead body that lied on the ground.  
  
Once more, Himura Kenshin awoke, breathing heavily. He sat up immediately. Again he searched for his Sakabato. It lay right there, next to him, as it always had. He then heard a door slide open, and footsteps that were entering the dojo. He quickly got up and grabbed his sword, and ran to the source of the sounds, Sanosuke's room. He ran down the halls of the dojo, till he reached Sano's room. He slid open the door to find a dark shape standing by the door.  
  
"Sano?" he called quietly into the dark room, realizing that last time he was awake, that Sanosuke had still not returned from his excursion.  
  
"Whoa, Kenshin. You startled me. I didn't wake you did I?" Sano's familiar voice asked.  
  
"Oh, Sano. It's you," Kenshin gave a sigh of relief, "You didn't get arrested again, did you?"  
  
"Uhhh. You could say that."  
  
"Sano, you have to stop using my name to bail yourself out of jail. I'm sure Saito's not going to keep letting you off, that I am."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I didn't even do anything this time."  
  
Kenshin snickered.  
  
"What? It's true. The damn police just took me in for wandering around in the middle of the night, and 'suspicious activity'."  
  
"Okay. Just get some sleep. We've probably already woken Miss Kaoru by now, that we have. I haven't been able to sleep, but I shouldn't disturb the rest of you. So try to get some sleep. I apologize for startling you, that I do."  
  
"It's fine Kenshin, really. Hope you sleep better."  
  
"Thank you for your concern," Kenshin said leaving the room. He closed the door behind him. He started to head back down to his room, when he ran into Kaoru again, wooden sword in hand. The moment she saw him, she dropped her wooden blade.  
  
"Oh! Kenshin, it's you," she said as she threw her arms around him, "I was so worried. I heard you get up, since I hadn't fallen back asleep. I decided I'd go check on you, but you were gone. Then I heard voices and I." she started breathing hard from explaining everything so fast. She stopped speaking and kissed him on the cheek. She then began crying into his shirt.  
  
"It's okay Miss Kaoru. I'm fine." He said as he started to get them to walk away from Sanosuke's room, primarily because he didn't want Sano to hear he and Kaoru talking like this.  
  
"Kenshin. No Miss, remember?" She sniffed.  
  
"Yes, that will be quite the habit to break, that it will."  
  
"So it was only Sano coming home?" she sobbed into his shoulder.  
  
"Yes, it was merely him."  
  
"Oh Kenshin, you know if you ever pull something like that, there'll be the imprint of my fist along side that cross," she sniveled as she ran her finger along the cross shape on his left cheek.  
  
"I know how much that would worry you if I just left without even saying goodbye, that I do," he said as he hugged her passionately. Kaoru finally regained her composure and stopped crying. Kenshin walked Kaoru back to her room, his arm around her shoulder for comfort. When they reached her room, he kissed her with all the passion of their first kiss.  
  
Before he left Kenshin told her, "Kaoru, try to get some sleep. It's been quite a night, for the both of us. Don't worry about me. If I get even a half hour of sleep, I'll be fine." She gave him one last good night kiss before he left saying only, "Good night Kaoru."  
  
That night, Kenshin dreamed only once more. And this time, it wasn't about his past life, as Hitokiri Battousai. It was of him and Kaoru. They held each other, kissing, passionately. When Kaoru finally pulled away, she whispered in his ear,  
  
"Kenshin, please promise me one thing."  
  
"Yes, Kaoru?" He whispered in her ear as he held her.  
  
"Please, promise me. promise me, that our love will never end."  
  
"Okay. I promise."  
  
Well that's my Rurouni Kenshin fanfic. Hope you all enjoyed it. I did while I wrote it. Please note, I will probably not update this, unless I've spelled something wrong. Thanks, B^)  
  
"Feh. My business is getting beat up. This is nothing."  
-Sagara Sanosuke 


End file.
